The presence of thousands of brothels and hundreds of thousands of prostitutes has heightened competition and pushed prices down steeply in the German sex trade. One tourist from Florida, who visits the country three times annually to pay for cheap sex, compares the scene to a discount supermarket: “Germany is like Aldi for prostitutes,” he says.

Prostitution became legal in Germany in 2002, and the open sex trade has taken off in the years since. There are reportedly around 3,000 red-light establishments in the country, and 500 brothels in Berlin alone. It’s been estimated that more than 1 million men pay for sex in Germany every day.

One of the classic arguments for legalizing prostitution is that recognizing and regulating the world’s oldest profession would improve the conditions of sex workers. Instead, recent reports paint legalized prostitution in Germany largely as a failure.

In May, Der Spiegel published a series of stories highlighting the atrocious conditions endured by prostitutes in Germany, some of whom say they arrived in the country against their will. Typically, the stories involve young women from Romania and Bulgaria who were unwittingly duped into coming to Germany, where they were forced to service dozens of men daily in flat-rate deals where customers can have all the sex they want for an allotted time period, starting at just €49 (around $65). The women say customers are known to take drugs to improve their sexual performance in order to get their money’s worth. Some women report getting paid a pittance and never being allowed to leave their brothels. During rare breaks from work, they share a room with other prostitutes, where there is a single bed and no other furniture.

In early June, a documentary aired on ARD, Germany’s public-broadcasting station, called Sex — Made in Germany. The film was made in part by bringing hidden cameras into brothels over the course of two years. “Sex is cheaper than anywhere else,” one brothel owner in Berlin says on camera. “Germany is the biggest whorehouse in Europe, no question,” a Danish brothel customer notes, according to Die Welt.

Germany’s prostitution scene has attracted visitors from around the world. Specialty tour operators have been booking groups of men from Asia, the Middle East and North America on “sex tourism” trips to Germany for years. As more men and money have flowed into the country thanks to prostitution, more and more women have arrived to serve them with the hopes of making a decent living. Instead, what seems to have happened is that the brothels have been aggressively competing with one another for business, and prices have plummeted. Alia, a 23-year-old prostitute working in Cologne, related the following account to Der Spiegel:

The going rate for oral sex and intercourse used to be €40 [$54] on Geestemünder Strasse. But when the nearby city of Dortmund closed its streetwalking area, more women came to Cologne, says Alia. ‘There are more and more women now, and they drop their prices so that they’ll make something at all,’ she complains. Bulgarian and Romanian women sometimes charge less than €10 [$13], she says. ‘One woman here will even do it for a Big Mac.’

An English-language news site in Germany called The Local interviewed a 39-year-old man from Florida named Andrew about his brothel-frequenting habits. He said he originally visited Germany in his mid-20s because he was interested in the car culture and the history, but has since kept coming back three times annually because prostitution is legal and the prostitutes are so affordable. He even compared the marketplace for the world’s oldest profession to a discount grocery chain:

‘There’s a risk of being arrested in the U.S., but not here,’ he said. ‘And it’s cheaper. Germany is like Aldi for prostitutes.’

Twenty minutes with a woman in Frankfurt costs as little as €20 [$27], he said. ‘This is more than enough time,’ he admitted.

Despite the critics’ claims of atrocious conditions brought on by legalized prostitution in Germany, there are many who don’t want to go back to the days when the trade was cordoned off in the black market. “Prostitution is still socially stigmatized, and that has not changed in the few years in which the law has been in effect,” Monika Lazar, a spokeswoman on women’s issues for the Alliance 90/Greens party, said, according to the Guardian. “But the law is helping to strengthen the position of prostitutes and ensuring women, and men, are much better protected.”

This is in Time? My gawd. This is a prime example of what happens when you hire religiously inflicted anti-European moralists to write articles. As an American expat in Germany it's embarrassing. Enjoy.

Significantly enough, it's legal to have sex with animals in Germany. Gay sex and animal sex were legalized on the same day in - I think it was 1969. Every so often the German government makes noises about making animal sex illegal but it's far too ingrained in the German culture for that to ever happen. Maybe that's the real reason sex with a woman is so cheap. The women have to compete with dogs and sheep and donkeys. Most German men seem to prefer the animals over the women. If it wasn't for tourists, German women would be out of luck.

My son, be attentive to my wisdom;incline your ear to my understanding,2 that you may keep discretion,and your lips may guard knowledge.3 For the lips of a forbidden[a] woman drip honey,and her speech[b] is smoother than oil,4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,sharp as a two-edged sword.5 Her feet go down to death;her steps follow the path to[c] Sheol;6 she does not ponder the path of life;her ways wander, and she does not know it.

7 And now, O sons, listen to me,and do not depart from the words of my mouth.8 Keep your way far from her,and do not go near the door of her house,9 lest you give your honor to othersand your years to the merciless,10 lest strangers take their fill of your strength,and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,11 and at the end of your life you groan,when your flesh and body are consumed,12 and you say, “How I hated discipline,and my heart despised reproof!13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachersor incline my ear to my instructors.14 I am at the brink of utter ruinin the assembled congregation.”

15 Drink water from your own cistern,flowing water from your own well.16 Should your springs be scattered abroad,streams of water in the streets?17 Let them be for yourself alone,and not for strangers with you.18 Let your fountain be blessed,and rejoice in the wife of your youth,19 a lovely deer, a graceful doe.Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;be intoxicated[d] always in her love.20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden womanand embrace the bosom of an adulteress?[e]21 For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord,and he ponders[f] all his paths.22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him,and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.23 He dies for lack of discipline,and because of his great folly he is led astray.

I've been a hobbyist for over ten years and I have to say this article makes the scene in Germany sound gross. Why would anyone travel thousands of miles so they could do twenty minute dates? How much sense does it make to spend thousands on airfare and hotel so that you can spend less than $70 on sex? Haven't these guys heard of Backpage? These customers are like drunks who can't taste the liquor they're drinking anymore. I'd have gone to the DR and booked a week at a resort.

Heck yeah! This why prostitution should be legal everywhere. Same as drugs like meth, cocaine, and weed and I mean this seriously. When you legalize things like prostitution the price drops like a stone and how much prison space would this free up?

OK, legalization itself is not going to improve worker conditions. It simply allows worker protection laws to apply, where they could not if it was a black market. It's still up to Germany to protect their labor.

More or less, this is happening to all workers, predatory capitalist globalization is either killing your jobs or forcing everybody to work for less everywhere. Globalization is a weapon of class warfare.

The claim of Brad Tuttle that “Prostitution became legal in Germany
in 2002” is wrong. Prostitution is legal in Germany since 1927 (!) and sex
workers have to pay taxes since 1964.

The new prostitution law of 2002 changed some aspects
pertaining to the legal relationship between sex workers and clients and some
criminal law provisions. It recognized the contract between sex workers and
clients as legal and introduced the rights of sex workers to sue clients
unwilling to pay for sexual services already provided. In addition, sex workers
received the right to health insurance and social security. The law also
forbids the right of direction (Weisungsrecht) by the employer in cases
where a sex worker is employed at a brothel, for instance. In this way, a sex
worker would always be able to determine to which sexual practices she or he
would agree or not. What is misleadingly called the ”legalization“ of
prostitution is actually the recognition of sex work as labor.

The “recent reports”, Tuttle mentions, which “paint legalized
prostitution in Germany largely as a failure” were deeply flawed and heavily
biased, just as this article shows that Brad Tuttle didn’t do his homework.

Sonja Dolinsek and myself did, however,
as did attorney Thomas Stadler. You can read our critique of the SPIEGEL report
in English at ‘Feminist Ire’ and in German on ‘Menschenhandel Heute’. A
critique of the documentary ‘Sex Made in Germany’ you can read in German on ‘Kauf
Mich’.

- Prostitution was not illegal in Germany before 2002 and I doubt that the change increased the amount of brothels / prostitution by more than say 10 percent.

- Prostitution is not prohibited in western Europe in general. Germany is just one of the countries in Europe where laws don't aim at abolishing prostitution.

The 2002 law tried to strengthen the legal status of prostitutes so they have comparable rights to other employees / self-employed workers. They should no longer be 2nd class workers that had to work in gray areas. That includes income taxes & pension, health care and some other areas like making the act of prostitution a legally binding contract between customer and prostitute so they can go to court if they don't get their money. Those contracts were previously immoral and therefore not binding AFAIK.

The law is usually being criticized for failing to achieve a better situation for prostitutes or even making it worse since it also strengthened the situation for brothels and other types of "employers" while prostitutes don't / can't use their new rights. Not sure if that law is a direct reason for the forced prostitute problem. Germany being the gate between east (allowing prostitition & higher wealth) and the east (banning prostitution & lower wealth) of Europe is probably one of the more substantial reasons.

Only legal residents should be issued sex worker licenses. The prostitutes should be required to display their qualifications the way cab drivers in NYC do. It would not be hard to have an app or a phone number to call where the John and confirm the prostitute is qualified to sell sex. Johns who buy sex from unlicensed sex workers should face steep fines and public humiliation. That would stop human trafficking almost overnight. That will probably not happen, though, because the cost of sex will sky rocket because the truth is, very few women who are not desperate for money (or being coerced) will choose that line of work.

It's disturbing how a professor claims that a country that has legalized prostitution promotes more human trafficking, and throughout the cited article (Der Spiegel), it's asserted that human trafficking is very difficult to prove, and therefore the reason why statistically, Germany has low human trafficking records. And it's even more disturbing how this entire anti-legalization of German prostitution article, it's attempts to take a position; if you want to make prostitution evil, you will be prone to believe the prostitute does not work under her free will, and make whatever secular illogical argument (such as cherry picking), rather than professing your desire to expand fundamentalist Christianity.

Popular competing products drive their prices down in order to compete. All products with competitors follow this rule. Therefore, the working conditions for popular competing products is bad, as worse products must demand less compensation, and sellers of the inferior products suffer. Therefore, the working conditions for popular competing products is bad. The reasoning of this article is off.

Prostitution is no different than teaching, etc, in that, a service is provided. Prostitutes are not objects.

It would be nice to know what proportion of the prostitutes of Germany endure unsafe and unfair working conditions. Also, how similar working conditions are for German prostitutes and workers of the factories in China, India, etc, would help place this information into context. If it truly is a failure, there has to be ways to improve the system.

@tuula.salonen you're being too literal again, man. But since you asked, what's the capital of the United States? The nation's capital, as it's oft called? Washington, D.C., isn't it?

Not strictly speaking a city, though it has some of the features of one, it is the Military District of Columbia. Now before you try to shout me down, and say I'm splitting hairs, let me point out that for one thing: Every city in the US belongs to a state or territory, etc., EXCEPT for Washington D.C., which belongs to NO STATE. Then again, how many US representatives does any CITY have in congress, and how many electoral votes?

I forget how many non-voting members of congress D.C. has, but the 23rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution grants them at least as many as the least populace state. How many American CITIES are mentioned by name in the constitution? None. It only mentions states, and none by name that I could find, except at the end, and only to specify which signatory and member of the delegation came from which state. The status of D.C. as Capital of the United States, and seat of government, is laid out in Section 8, where Congress is granted its powers, including "exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, become the Seat of the Government of the United States [...]" which again, makes it wholly unlike any CITY in the United States.

A capital, colloquially speaking, is a chief location, and isn't necessarily a seat of government. For example, Gilroy California is known as the garlic capital of the world. It's a city, but does it have OFFICIAL status? Of course not, they just grow a sh-tonne of garlic there, and make all manner of wacky things out of it, including garlic ice-cream, if you can believe that!

@JoelRichards no kidding, I had more fun at an all inclusive resort, was fed, drank all I could drink, ate all I could eat, and played in the ocean. I can't imagine actually "wasting money" on bootie. UGH.

You can get it free at almost any bar near closing time. Let's be honest. Even if you're ugly, free at closing time.....cause they're all too drunk to notice

@Touko You're not wrong, but capitalism itself is not evil or predatory, only unregulated capitalism where there are no incentives to treat your workers fairly, and you have to compete with unscrupulous companies.

@MatthiasLehmann the law does not forbid the Weisungsrecht and I guess you know that. And of course, any woman who does not like the working conditions in the brothels is free to leave and all that. But thank you for providing some names of the Lobby.

@IloveGermanyFalse dichotomy, bro. Crimes that have no specific victim are NOT the same as ones where there is an actual, specific person who has been raped or murdered. If you can't understand that, ask yourself whether you'd be more injured if someone in your state snorted a line of coke, banged a hooker, then fell asleep, or stabbed you 37 times in the face.

If someone, just as a hypothetical example, stabbed you 37 times in the face, you'd probably, before you lost consciousness, find yourself perhaps briefly visited by the thought... "hey, now that I think about it, I really do kind of wish that instead of stabbing me 37 times in the face, that that knife-wielding jerk had just snorted a line of coke and then banged a hooker." He'd be happy, she'd get paid, (even if not much,) and you would have been able to avoid being stabbed those hypothetical 37 times.

But if you think legalizing drugs (that people are going to take anyway, let's not forget the whole point of addiction is that they CAN'T HELP IT,) is the very same, indistinguishable thing as letting prison doors swing wide letting EVERYONE out, you are not as smart as I gave you credit for with that awesome, funny Big Mac slam earlier.

BTW, a lot of the crime connected with drugs like coke, etc., is CAUSED by the fact that it's illegal. The War on Drugs (as they call it in the US) has failed for the same exact reason Prohibition failed, and why all efforts to stamp out prostitution fail everywhere. They attack the WRONG SIDE OF THE PROBLEM! The fools didn't learn anything from the years of staggering violence during that era, and eventually backtracked in large measure because so many of the people who made the rule in the first place where themselves alcoholics, and the US made a lot of money taxing booze.

If you're going to outlaw something because it is harmful and has little to no redeeming value, that is technically a poison that is responsible for staggering numbers of injuries and deaths each year, and you have no problem in what is supposed to be a nation of laws whose authority comes from the consent of the governed, legislating what people may and may not put into their own bodies, why not ban tobacco and alcohol?

They don't and WON'T because too many people in power abuse those and the country makes way too much money off the consequences of the laws being the way they are, including, let's not forget, the fact that slavery is alive and well, in the US, in the form of slave-labor, or "prison" labor, as it's often called.

But I digress. Your point was that a little recreational drug use is on par with rape and murder. That's called hyperbole, man. It's also completely dead wrong. A lot of the crime surrounding drugs has to do with the fact that many are illegal, and highly addictive. But also, if you are already breaking the law anyway, and can't stop, why NOT break other laws? If you're caught, you're screwed anyway, and the law is trying to interfere with you being able to function, (as doubtless the addict thinks,) so naturally many will adopt the attitude, "SCREW the law!"

Contrast that with what it would be like if coke, for instance, was totally legal. Why would someone buy something smuggled into the country at great expense, when you could just buy it from someone who grew it right down the street, or on a farm, where you don't have to wonder what pesticides, heavy metals, etc. could contaminate it? How many bags of marshmallows, for instance, are smuggled into the country from Columbia every year? I don't mean metaphorical marshmallows, but ACTUAL ones? Somewhere around NONE? Why is that? Could it be that it's cheaper to get them at the grocery store?

Do you think people would commit the crimes they do to get the money they need for cocaine if it were on aisle 7 next to the Aspercream, and cost about the same? How many people are robbed by junkies jonesing for marshmallow Peeps? Again, NONE. If they were as addictive as coke, but as readily available as Peeps, and legal, would that change anything? Of course not. (I should point out that I've never done cocaine, nor has anyone I know or am related to, that I know of, I just use it as an example.)

How much violence is associated with maple syrup, for another example? Very little. Why? If it were as addictive as coke, but had only the health consequences of consuming maple syrup, and some nitwit decided to outlaw it, the same results would be seen. Can you imagine your nephew, or brother, doing a dime for 2.5 oz., of pure, premium, grade A amber maple syrup?

How stupid would you feel? You'd probably be tempted to rally on the capital steps carrying a sign advocating legalization/decriminalization of maple syrup. Then someone would shout at you the following statement, and you'd realize just exactly how foolish it sounds:

" Lets put the murderers and rapists in the streets too. It will be fun like the hunger games haha! Hell yea bro high five"

@DanielBerman@Touko I wish it were true but the capitalists only consider it true capitalism when it is unregulated, uncontrolled and unrestricted free market economics. The Chicago School of economics and their mentors in Europe are unlimited in their greed and support for the 1 or 2% of the wealthiest individuals and largest international corporations.

@Canne Why do you tell such nonsense? No one is allowed to tell a Sexworker what to do. That is why there is § 181a about procuration.

(1) A term of imprisonment of six months to five years shall be punished who

1 another person who, working in prostitution, exploited or

2 monitored because of his financial advantage to another person in the exercise of prostitution, shall determine the place, time, extent or other circumstances as prostitutes or measures is that they should keep them to abandon prostitution,

Owners
of brothels can no longer be prosecuted for "promoting prostitution",
and providing a pleasant ambiance, better working conditions and condoms
can no longer be interpreted negatively ever since the introduction of
the prostitution law (ProstG).

They can set the working hours,
the place and the prices. But they were fundamentally denied a broader
right of direction (Weisungsrecht). The legislator created a special,
limited (!) right of direction. That means that they cannot, for
example, request a particular sexual service from a sex worker or ask
them to take a client she or he rejected.

And as for me providing
names of what you call a lobby - you're welcome. I have no problem
posting here with my real name, but you seem to.

@RichardVandiamondsworth@IloveGermany RV, dude, you gotta give it up, you walked right T.F. into that. Trying to shrug off an awesome 'yo mama' with a sarcastic 'oh, you so CRAZY' has simply failed.

Be a good sport and acknowledge when someone scored a good hit. Pouting is so undignified. IloveGermany's comment was the funniest thing I've read in a while, and on the this site, (Time) that's saying something!

@davidhoffman@hallux@IloveGermany legalize pot like Uruguay is about to do. Latin America has become weary of the DEA lead and State Department promoted "War on Drugs". The end of prohibition is coming if we keep pushing in the US and in Central and South America.

@hallux@IloveGermany , great analysis. Thanks for taking the time to write it. I wish my fellow citizens in the USA would understand what you have written and act to eliminate the criminal penalties for marijuana usage and cultivation.